Glossary:
File I/O: Meaning Input and Output - to and from the file system - File I/O is the heart of saving data permanently to the hard disk and later retrieving it. There are many features of file I/O including the command set that opens and closes files as discussed in this article, the variety of input commands and output commands - different commands are used for different types of I/O (see Random and Binary). There are commands to locate specific records and functions to return data about open files as well as all files in the file system. File I/O covers a broad category of application from simple files for holding program settings to databases. There are several articles that cover this topic in greater detail in the LB Newsletter.
Random and Binary Files - a special form of files with set record lengths, these files can form the building blocks to a basic database system. Liberty Basic allows the programmer to declare a data structure and length for a set of data elements. Once declared the data can be written directly into the file and later read from a specific location in the file - saving the need to search serially through the file to arrive at the starting point of the data element. Indexing is not native to Liberty Basic, but can be added using some simple LB code. Indexing will make it easy to find the data's location in the file. Binary files are similar, but lack the data definition. Reading a file as binary allows the programmer to work with the file at the smallest data building block, the character. There are several very good articles on Indexing, Random files and Binary files in the LB Newsletter.
Controls - Controls are the elements of the Windows program that the user interacts with. They control the events that direct the program. Examples of controls are buttons, menus, combolists and the like. Liberty Basic treats Graphicboxes as controls because they can produce events as well. Controls are what make the use interface. Without them the windows environment would simply be DOS.
Event Driven" environment - Events are the things that happen when a windows program is running. Events are the triggers that let the program know that the use pressed a button or selected a menu item. When detected (Liberty Basic detects events with the Wait or Scan command) they direct the program to function - executing a specific unit of code. They are the fundamental under workings of Windows. Read more about events in the LB Newsletter at: http://babek.info/libertybasicfiles/lbnews/nl102/7.htm
Turtle graphics or Logo programming language - From Issue 98 of the LB newsletter Alyce Watson writes: Logo was the original "Turtle Graphics". It was designed to be a simple beginning programming language that interacted with the learner. In its earliest form it featured a robotic "turtle" that could be directed to move across the floor. Alyce offers a great tutorial on turtle graphics as well as a history of Logo. Check it out here: http://babek.info/libertybasicfiles/lbnews/nl98/index.htm